Snarf said:
We’ve been breezing on through The Wire, a few episodes into the last season right now. Love it.

Confession: We’ve only got 1 episode down and weren’t blown away. It felt like a lot of introduction and setup, which can sometimes be a barrier, but we’ve not yet made time for episode two. I’ve heard nothing but high critical praise for the show though, so I’m sure it just takes an episode or two to get into it. I’m sure we’ll get into the swing of it sometime soon.

There’s a reason why there are vast numbers of viewers and critics that crown The Wire as the best series ever, trumping the Sopranos, etc.

That said, The Wire is the definition of a slow build, and requires patience. There are multiple story arcs that not only span episodes, but seasons. Also, episodes don’t have typical cliff-hangers or clear cut resolutions, and there is tons of grey area without obvious heroes or villains. All of this can make it a challenging watch for some, not to mention it’s bleak and grim themes.

It’s one of the most rewarding shows imaginable if you can devote yourself to it though.

Mister Shifter said:
There’s a reason why there are vast numbers of viewers and critics that crown The Wire as the best series ever, trumping the Sopranos, etc.

That said, The Wire is the definition of a slow build, and requires patience. There are multiple story arcs that not only span episodes, but seasons. Also, episodes don’t have typical cliff-hangers or clear cut resolutions, and there is tons of grey area without obvious heroes or villains. All of this can make it a challenging watch for some, not to mention it’s bleak and grim themes.

It’s one of the most rewarding shows imaginable if you can devote yourself to it though.

Well put. My favorite season so far has been three I think? The one with the dock workers and the greeks etc. Chris Bauer is a really good actor, really nice to watch after seeing his goofy sheriff role in True Blood all these years.

Banshee isn’t particularly well acted, but the action is good and the story itself is pretty interesting. Bad guy who robbed Russian Mob gets out of prison, goes after loot. Finds his former girlfriend and partner living in a tiny PA town (Banshee) that’s about half Amish. Through a twist, he ends up assuming the identity of the out of town recruit for Sheriff. Most interesting character on the show is the town bad guy who also happens to be a shunned former member of the Amish community.

The Following is Kevin Bacon’s new show, very Silence of the Lambs style. Super smart, charismatic serial killer escapes prison, Kevin Bacon was the agent who caught him originally. The twist is, the killer had built a network of serial killers via his visits to the law library, and has put a pretty ambitious plan in motion for revenge.

BTW, for Stephen King fans, check out Haven. It just finished its 3rd? Season, loosely based on The Colorado Kid. Got into it last summer and got caught up, pretty good TV if you’re a King Fan.

I’m giong to say Jimmy Quinlan and Gilbert Smith Jr (despite being the shortest competitor). I was really surprised that Luke Barnatt was the #1 overall pick.

Man, that Josh is so unlikable…. ecccch. So early to tell.

I’ve honestly taken the last few seasons of this show off, I’m glad to be watching it again. Hoping for a good season. Jones vs Sonnen seems to be a good matchup given their general distaste for one another.

Shows I effin’ love
Community
Archer
Venture Bros.
The Ricky Gervais Show
Luther
Shameless
Bob’s Burgers
Boardwalk Empire
Ninja Warrior (my cats are actually named after NW all-stars)
The League
Portlandia (but only on Netflix, so I’m behind)
Sherlock
An Idiot Abroad
Louie
Sons of Anarchy
Dave’s Old Porn
Wilfred
Mexico: one plate at a time
Kroll Show
Game of Thrones
The Green Room with Paul Provenca
Workaholics
The IT Crowd
America’s Test Kitchen

Shows I was/am late to the party on, but enjoying[/u]
Breaking Bad
The West Wing
Firefly
Arrested Development

Shows that went away too soon but are totally worth tracking down
The Riches
the BBC show “Survivors” (if there’s one single thing I can recommend, it’s this:watch survivors!)
Terriers
The Big C
United States of Tara
Huff (yeah, it’s been a while, buuut…)
Hung
Bored to Death
Avengers: earth’s mightiest heroes
BSG
Party Down
I’m gonna miss 30 Rock
Spaced
Maybe someday I’ll get more Futurama again
And life already feels so different without attack of the show and x-play…

Shows that I dig and don’t give a shit what you think
Awkward. (best thing mtv has done since daria)
The Walking Dead
The Newsroom
Warehouse 13
The Boondocks
The Clone Wars (but only on blu, so I’m way behind)

Shows I finally wanna try soon[/u]
House of Lies
The Wire
Young Justice
The Tudors
The Borgias